RE: Mental Mazda learns to live a little
Wednesday 11th April 2007
Mazda's less sensible 3MPSMazda’s ballistic but oddly anonymous hot hatch – the 3 MPS – has received a makeover. Responding perhaps to criticism about the cars lack of sporting focus, a Sports Aero Kit is now available as a £500 option.
Mental Mazda learns to live a little
Mazda's 3MPS gets UK-specific tuning
Mazda's less sensible 3MPS
The kit comprises a larger rear spoiler and smaller, more aerodynamic mirrors. Of most interest, it also includes retuned suspension, with a 15mm ride height drop and new Eibach springs. The blistering, 256bhp, direct injection turbo 'four' remains unchanged.
The kit has been specially developed for the UK market and Mazda UK expects at least 70 per cent of the cars to be ordered as such, with a sticker price of £19,495.
Discussion
waynepixel said:
SS HSV said:
What an amazing little car I had not even heard of it. Are there aftermarket mods for it yet and what does it weigh?
Same here, went completely under the radar, It has pretty impressive performance. I wonder what this car give out after a re-map.
Platform shares with the Focus IIRC. Slightly hotter than the hot ford though. Rerally liked the interior for a feel of 'slightly better than usual but still cheap' compared to some of the others in the same segment.
For those who missed it - this is a nutter's dream, despite what it looks like (and what does it look like??. Makes an Astra VXR seem slow and civilised. Key is that astounding four-cyl turbo motor which has direct-injection (not sure how many other cars have gas DI yet, but very very few). T-o-t-a-l-l-y outguns the chassis, so don't even think about a re-flash.
I have to slightly disagree here, before the launch we all thought it would be totally undrivable but after having a pre launch drive on track and driven a few in anger on the road, I am amazed at how drivable the car is.
OK so there is some torque steer but no where near as much as you'd expect. And oh my god is it quick, seriously quick for a hot hatch.
The Aero kit improves the handling all round and makes it the car it should have been all along.
Just my opinion of course, but as they say, if the car is too much for you, don't drive it
OK so there is some torque steer but no where near as much as you'd expect. And oh my god is it quick, seriously quick for a hot hatch.
The Aero kit improves the handling all round and makes it the car it should have been all along.
Just my opinion of course, but as they say, if the car is too much for you, don't drive it
No one here complains about too much power in a RWD car even though if you floored the throttle mid-corner, you'd be backwards through a tree quicker than you could say a*se.
Powerful FWD just means you have to also be careful of full throttle in a straight line in the lower gears. If you think 200bhp is enough for FWD then only ever use 3/4 throttle in a 260bhp hatch when in 3rd gear and below. It's not difficult.
Don't forget, it is wheel torque that causes torque steer, not engine torque. This is therfore a result of gearing and engine revs.
Powerful FWD just means you have to also be careful of full throttle in a straight line in the lower gears. If you think 200bhp is enough for FWD then only ever use 3/4 throttle in a 260bhp hatch when in 3rd gear and below. It's not difficult.
Don't forget, it is wheel torque that causes torque steer, not engine torque. This is therfore a result of gearing and engine revs.
I've had my 3 MPS for 2 months and 3500 miles now, and torque steer is really a non-issue 99% of the time (unless you're being stupidly brutal in 3rd gear in the wet, with the DSC off.)
Getting a consistent 25mpg (pretty good for the performance), and it's also a surprisingly good motorway car with decent refinement and turbodiesel-like grunt in 6th. Very happy with mine.
Getting a consistent 25mpg (pretty good for the performance), and it's also a surprisingly good motorway car with decent refinement and turbodiesel-like grunt in 6th. Very happy with mine.
waynepixel said:
I wonder what this car give out after a re-map.
autospeed said:
The ChipTorque 3 MPS
The ChipTorque mod is simple: just install one of the company’s Xede interceptors and dyno tune with more boost (up from about 13 to 16 psi) and revised fuelling and ignition timing. Drive in, pay AUD$1490 and then drive out. On the car we drove there were absolutely no other mods – standard exhaust, standard intake... standard everything.
The first thing noticeable is when you crank the key. With the Xede fitted, the engine takes longer to start as the interceptor needs to have time to pick up the correct engine rotation signals. However, the delayed start is really only noticeable when doing a back-to-back comparison.
On the road the bottom-end remains standard – off-boost behaviour is unchanged. But get into that torque mesa mid-range and you get more and more and more of what the Mazda previously delivered! The mid-range power – up by 12 per cent but it feels more like 20 per cent – shoves you back in the seat and the power rush also continues for longer. What was previously the peak power (160kW at the wheels at 5600 rpm) is now available at 6400 rpm! The absolute max power still occurs early in the rev range (at 5250) but the meatier top-end is obvious. Peak power is up by 14 per cent but the power lift is over such a wide spread of the graph that this figure understates the real on-road benefit.
quoted from this article
http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_1
robinoz said:
Don't be suprised when the std 3 engine mounts give up because they can't handle the extra stress...already seen many failures!
Seen where exactly? The car was only launched in the UK last month, and there are only a handful on the roads at the moment. Mine was certainly the first my local dealer had ever serviced.
8250 said:
robinoz said:
Don't be suprised when the std 3 engine mounts give up because they can't handle the extra stress...already seen many failures!
Seen where exactly? The car was only launched in the UK last month, and there are only a handful on the roads at the moment. Mine was certainly the first my local dealer had ever serviced.
Australia I imagine.
For my next assumption: the car has been out there for a bit longer than here.
Torque steer is not a problem if you are a sensible and experienced driver. There is actually very little compared to other hi powered FWDs like the Focus ST, Renault Megane 225 and Alfas or Minis, because Mazda engineers took time to balance the driveshafts and installed electronic gizmos to tame it. In 1st and 2nd gear and when more than certain amounts of steering angle is applied you don't get full torque / power which helps reduce torque steer dramatically. It also has an LSD to reduce wheelspin out of corners. Check out youtube, plenty of videos on the MPS3 in action.
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